February 21, 2015

Anderson, who
was well-regarded despite coming from a small college, was chosen by the
Bengals in the third round of the 1971 NFL draft, and took over as starting
quarterback in his second season. Mobile, intelligent, and with a good arm, he
also adapted well to QB coach Bill Walsh’s early version of the West Coast
passing attack with short timing passes. He broke out in 1973, throwing for
2428 yards and 18 touchdowns with a passer rating of 81.2 while the Bengals
went 10-4 and won the AFC Central title.

Most
interceptions, game – 2 at San Francisco 9/29, at Oakland 10/20, at Houston
11/17

Passer rating
– 95.7 [1]

300-yard
passing games – 1

200-yard
passing games – 6

Rushing

Attempts – 43

Most
attempts, game – 7 (for 70 yds.) vs. Washington 10/6

Yards – 314

Most yards,
game – 70 yards (on 7 carries) vs. Washington 10/6

Average gain
– 7.3

TDs – 2

Scoring

TDs – 2

Points – 12

Awards &
Honors:

2nd
team All-NFL: NEA

2nd
team All-AFC: UPI

Bengals went 7-7
to finish third in the AFC Central while leading the conference in passing
yards (2511).

Aftermath:

Anderson
again led the NFL in passing (93.9 rating), passing yards (3169), and yards per
attempt (8.4) in 1975 and was selected to the Pro Bowl in ‘75 and ’76. The team
regularly contended during that period, but through coaching changes and
attrition, the Bengals slumped later in the decade and Anderson, who also
battled injuries, even briefly lost his starting job during the 1980 season. He
came back with a MVP performance in 1981 in which he led the NFL with a
career-high 98.4 passer rating and Cincinnati won the AFC Championship. Anderson
again led the NFL in passing during the strike-shortened 1982 season (95.3) and
completed a then-record 70.6 % of his passes. He led the league once more in
completion percentage in ’83 (66.7) but after one last year as the starting
quarterback, he backed up Boomer Esiason in 1985 and ’86, his last two seasons,
all spent with the Bengals. Overall, he passed for 32,838 yards and 197 TDs,
averaging 7.3 yards per attempt. He also rushed for 2220 yards and 20
touchdowns. Anderson was a consensus first-team All-NFL selection once,
received second-team honors twice more, and was chosen to the Pro Bowl four
times.

--

Highlighted Years features players who were consensus
first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the
following statistical categories: